No Escape

Posted on Sat Feb 15th, 2020 @ 10:03am by Commodore Jason Myers & Captain Michelle Bartlett & Lieutenant Commander Shaille Levine

Mission: Present In The Past
Location: Delta Quadrant, Mid-2158

Two ships engaged each other fiercely in pursuit as though the smaller, weaker ship had unknowingly encroached territory. This, unfortunately, was precisely what happened. And the weaker ship was drastically outgunned. As phase cannons fired, and torpedoes were launched, it looked like surrender may be the only option.

"Report!" Called out the Captain from his spot on the bridge.

"We're about to lose forward shields, and I don't think we can keep diverting power without seriously leaving us even more defenseless." The Operations officer replied.

"This is ridiculous. Open hailing frequencies." the Captain replied. Just moments ago they were fighting off a Romulan attack ship. Sensors stopped being able to detect anything nearby and before they could get their bearings, this unknown vessel started attacking.

"Unknown vessel, this is Captain Geoffrey Hawthorne of the Earth Starship Nelson. We mean you no harm. We were in pursuit of a Romulan vessel when you interfered. Please lower your weapons."

Lieutenant Commander Natalia Briggs shook her head. "They're powering weapons again Captain," she said, her fingers flying across the console in front of her.

There was a flash of weapons fire on the view screen in front of them.

"Forward shields are down," Natalia called across the bridge.

"Direct hit to deck four, hull breach, emergency shields holding, for the moment, but we have power fluctuations all over the ship Captain!" the officer at Operations called.

"Empty out the torpedo bays and fire phase cannons. Something's gotta be able to hit these people!" Hawthorne said. Something seemed off about this. He was trying to figure out what was going on and why it seemed like suddenly all of their communications with Earth Starfleet went dark, but then this ship started attacking.

"Keep diverting! Hawthorne to engineering! Do we have anything left to work with?"

"Captain, not to put to fine of a point on it, but one more direct hit and it won't matter what we have left!" Natalia called over her shoulder. "Shields are completely down...." The ship rocked violently, consoles exploding on the bridge as the lights started to flicker. "Direct hit to our weapons array!"

Hawthorne looked down at the floor, then back up. "I think you're probably right, Commander. We need to find cover. Options?"

"There's a nebula we should be able to reach. Sensors can't penetrate so I have no idea what's inside, but it has to be better than what we have out here," Natalia responded. "If our sensors can't penetrate it then hopefully theirs won't be able to either."

"Set course for that nebula." the captain said. "Jump to warp if we have to."

"Aye, sir." came the response.

"We can sort out where the heck we are and what's going on as soon as we're safe." Hawthorne turned to the First Officer. "Wherever we are, I've got a feeling it's not anywhere near United Earth or Vulcan territory."

"Agreed." The exec replied. "Take us to warp and get us as close to it as you can."

"Course plotted and laid in, Captain." the helmsman replied.

"Engage." Hawthorne replied as the Intrepid-type ship jumped away for the moment from its attackers just inside the safety of the nebula. But it wasn't over yet. A nacelle burned out, and power was already getting considerably scarce.

"I think we've lost them, sir." the Ops officer responded.

"Well. That's that part over with. Now... where the hell are we?" Hawthorne replied.

Natalia's fingers flew across the console in front of her. During their retreat she had run as many sensor sweeps in as she could possibly get before they had entered the nebula. "Captain, I don't know. I think the radiation from the nebula must be interfering with our sensors. Nothing we picked up is correlating with anything the computer recognises. Even the scans of the other vessel came back blank."

She paused for a moment and shook her head. "This is all useless. I would recommend that we hole up in here until we get at least basic repairs done to the ship and then we can venture back out and see if we can modify the sensors to account for the radiation and distortions."

"Do it." Hawthorne said. "I sure hope it's a sensor fault, otherwise we really have problems. "

As helm navigated the vessel deeper into the nebula, Natalia sat at the tactical console, watching the view screen silently as the myriad of colors surrounding them cast an eerie glow over the bridge. Each officer on the bridge seemed to be wearing similar facial expressions. Concern, consternation, a hint of unspoken fear.

Whoever those aliens were, they had disabled a highly powerful Federation vessel with a few shots. Concern was to be warranted.

The beeps from consoles echoed across the bridge as the operations officer cast a glance toward the Captain. "Sir, damage reports are starting to come in."

Glancing between the console in front of her and the overlay on the view screen, Natalia read the reports as they flashed up, each one leaving a heavier feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach.

Hawthorne looked towards the tactical console, seeing the look of concern. "How bad?"

"Power is out on decks four, seven and eleven. Life support is failing across multiple decks. The warp core power levels are fluctuating, there are some critical power spikes being seen." Natalia shook her head. "Whoever or whatever they were, they've done a number on us."

"Start damage control procedures and let's figure out where we are. Can we adjust sensors to compensate for the interference?"

"I'll get started on it, sir. Could take a while though. We should prepare to evacuate if needed. We cant be that far off."

"Keep me posted." Hawthorne replied. "I'll be in my ready room. Commander, you have the bridge."

=/\= END ARCHIVED TRANSMISSION =/\=

Captain Geoffrey Hawthorne
Commanding Officer
United Starship Nelson

Lieutenant Commander Natalia Briggs
Tactical Officer
United Starship Nelson

Assorted Bridge Crew